CipherSkull's bag

The Ugly Truth - Ego, the evil cousin of Knowledge

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 20:37:00 +0000

I recently saw the movie 'Revolver' by Guy Ritchie, and it instantly got promoted to the list of my favorites. The reality of ego and the exclusivity of 'I' were impossibly well shown. The movie is dramatic but the concept is even more profound. It is a must see if you haven't. But the real reason I'm so fond of this movie is because I found so many similarities in this movie to a good part of what the Vedanta teaches.

Have you ever come across a person who was good for a while, but then started acting superior? Who was that person? If your answer was anyone other than yourself, then trust me you have an Ego that is so deeply rooted inside of you that you think it's actually your own voice, your own self that's guiding you. It has succeeded in taking full control of you and your mind and now you don't even realize there's such a thing inside you. In computers parlance, it's like a rootkit installed on your system and of course your antivirus thinks your system is clean. If you're denying this right now, then can you guess why? :-)

Sometimes we learn something new and feel superior, sometimes we help another person and feel superior, sometimes we 'grow' and start feeling superior, sometimes we get rich and start feeling superior. There are a lot of reasons why we might act superior, but the root cause always remains same- it's our ego that makes us act that way. It's not the knowledge we gain or the act itself that makes us arrogant. It's when our ego gets to know we learned something new or did something new, it tells us, disguised as our own voice, that now we 'deserve' to be superior, that we 'deserve' the right to not only look up to ourselves but also look down upon others. And these emotions are the effect of only the outermost rings of our ego. If we dig deep, we'll be surprised as to how much of ourselves is truly us and how much is actually our ego projecting itself as us. Ego is what makes us arrogant, it is what makes us unhappy, it is this abysmal void in us that we struggle to fill in vain. Ego gives us this utterly false sense of control and seduces us with the promise of more power and abilities to conquer the external world.

Ego brings in this whole exclusivity of 'I' within us. It creates these artificial struggles such as identity crisis, mid-life crisis and many other personality craving crises. 'Why me?' is again because our ego creates this self-sympathy to make us feel that we are the victims. In truth, we are victims because we give up. We are, at the end of the day, only what we do and not what we think of ourselves to be. Many of us so desperately want to do something because we think we're wasting our life by not 'fitting in' or by not 'doing that cool thing'. Ego has made us grow by competing against each other when we should be growing by complementing each other. Ego has replaced self-preservation with self-satisfaction. We no longer act just to preserve ourselves, we go way beyond and struggle to satisfy our seemingly endless desires disguised as needs.

Our ego does all the things it does for one and only one reason- to keep us in check and to make sure we don't conquer it, to make sure we never get to a point where we realize that we are in fact much more superior than our ego can ever be. So now how do we conquer something so deeply rooted inside us that it makes it difficult for us to even accept it's existence?

Well, it turns out the answer is easy to understand, and more importantly, easier to implement-

The first step is to challenge everything that we hear in our head- start getting self-conscious of our actions and seeing them and evaluating them from a neutral vantage point. This helps us identify our ego from our own self.
Treat everything we do as our duty, as our rent that we pay for the life we live. Everything, from getting rich to becoming super intelligent to helping others generously, everything as a duty, like we're just repaying our loan. When we do this, we implicitly renounce the notion of 'owning' or 'gaining' something. This in turn will help us get rid of our need to feel superior, because when we are not gaining anything, how can we be superior?. We now start enjoying things, material or otherwise, with a true appreciation for them. We will slowly start doing things because of their real value and not for the subjective value our ego might show them at.
Realize the truth that we are all from the same source of energy, and ergo, treat everyone just as we treat our own selves- with the same respect for all imperfections and the same love and dispassion for all actions. And by extension, realize that comparisons are fundamentally flawed because to compare we need two different things. So when we embrace singularity, the notion of comparisons falls apart. Also, comparisons are Ego's sole weapons, so we should depose them with such calm that it actually scares the bloody hell out of our ego. Once we start doing this, we will implicitly start inhibiting dispassionately any such comparisons that might come from anyone else. When we do this, we are truly insulated from our ego- now it is truly paralyzed; it cannot touch us.

At this stage, when we are free of all our egos, oh boy, I cannot describe how delightful it feels! For me, it's the ultimate freedom, the ultimate peace of mind. It is like we're in this super soothing meditation all the time, like the frequencies of the world outside and the world inside have finally started to resonate and brought down the barriers between them, making us truly a part of what we were meant to be a part of.

But it all comes down to how serious we are about taking the challenge to our ego. As Morpheus said, 'I can only show you the door. You're the one who has to walk through it.', and now that we see the door, let's walk through and break free!

The Ugly Truth Series - Preface

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 18:53:00 +0000

I am a very strong proponent of Vedanta Philosophy, very. very. It's been just over two years that I started reading the Upanishads and their essence. Ever since I've realized the meaning they convey, it's been very hard for me to get upset about anything. Yes, I might get angry or upset for a minute, but then it simply vanishes, just like that. It's like my inner self has this eternal smile, and the best part is- I don't need anything to keep smiling. And I owe it all to the Upanishads. This series is my effort to spread this treasure trove, no matter how little that spread ends up to be :-)

So before I dive into the treasures that the Upanishads showers us with, there are three very important things I feel we need to understand to appreciate the beauty of the Vedanta.

The first remarkable thing about the Upanishads is that they are not affiliated to any religion. Through-out this literature, there's no mention of any religion or a ritual. God is referred to as 'Knowledge/Truth' in here. Once you start reading them, you'll find that the notion of religion starts fading and you'll be dealing only with Truth. So you can read them like any other self-help books you find today.
Everything taught is scientific and mathematical in nature. For the skeptical(like myself), this is really helpful because just as in Mathematics, the teachings are actually theorems- they start with a fundamental assumption, and then build an argument and prove it based on previously established statements.
In today's practical science, strictly speaking, space and time(or spacetime as a continuum) are concepts- concepts that have been agreed upon and are used to define all other things in the known universe, and that this whole universe started from a single source of energy. Nobody can truly 'prove' space and time yet they are a part of the fundamental concepts in Physics and Mathematics. Vedanta too, uses the same concept in all it's teachings, that we are from a single source of energy. The difference between practical science and Vedanta is crucial- practical science deals with everything in this universe except our conscience where as Vedanta deals with nothing but our conscience.

P.S.: Observe that the whole basis of our logic(Physics and Mathematics) is a set of concepts that are arguably beyond our logic- which only reiterates that, to understand the fundamental truth, you have to assume(and by extension, believe in) something you don't truly understand.

How I Explained Adhwaitham To My Wife

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 21:26:00 +0000

Note: The title of the post has nothing to do with my wife's intellectual or spiritual aptitude :-) It was purely inspired by Ryan Tomayko's post "How I explained rest to my wife" which I thought was a really nice way to explain a concept. In reality, and to my wife's credit, she encourages spiritual growth and I've managed to spend a lot more time reading about spirituality and philosophy after marriage than what I did before. That doesn't necessarily mean she practices it with the same urge! ;-)

Wife: What is Adhwaitham?

Me: Adhwaitham in Sanskrit is derived from the words "Na dwaitham" meaning "No second thing".

Wife: Uh...

Me: In short it means that everything in this Universe is made of the same energy and what we see is only a manifestation of this energy in different forms.

Wife: And you believe that?

Me: Yes. Completely.

Wife: So, if I understand correctly, you're saying that God didn't create this Universe and that if I believe in God, I'm wrong?

Me: No. You're not wrong if you believe in God. You're wrong if you believe *only* in God and don't believe in the fact that He/She resides in each and everything in this Universe.

Me: In any religion that believes in God, how is He/She defined(in a general way)?

Wife: Umm, God is the Almighty, omni-present and the creator of this Universe. He protects us from Evil and helps us from cleansing our sins. Not even a leaf can move without him knowing about it. Everything about him is sacred and holy and pure.

Me: Good. Now let me explain what God means for me as a believer in Adhwaitham- It is the source of all energy in this universe. It has no form, no shape, it is neither good or bad, it has no virtues, no name, and it is present everywhere- within us, outside us, in the air we breathe, in this world we live in.

Wife: Again, you're saying that He is within us. How?

Me: Okay, you said God knows everything, right? So, if I sit in a room, close all the doors and windows, and I steal something from that room, He will know about it right? Which means he's there in that room.

Wife: Yes of course.

Me: Good. Now, what if I am sitting in that room, and *thinking* about stealing it all the time? God would know about that too right? So, it means that God is in my mind too- to know what I'm thinking about. So, he's in this house, in this room and in my mind too. And by extension, he's in every room, every house, everyone's mind, keeping a tab on what each and everyone is thinking or doing- so He's in all of us, right?

Wife: Hmm, yeah, that makes sense now. But how can you say he's got no form?

Me: Well, that should be easy to explain now that you know He's everywhere, including within ourselves. It's akin to how water takes the shape of everything it is poured into- because it's shapeless. He takes the shape of our mind when He's in our mind, takes the shape of the room when He's in the room and so on.

Wife: Yeah! Now it's making even more sense.

Wife: But how does He protect us from Evil and help us cleanse our sins?

Me: What you're saying is in fact contradictory to your own definition of God. Do you intend to say that He's partial to those who worship him? Can I make a mistake and go worship him and expect him to wipe that mistake out? If that's the case, then He's definitely no God. :)

Wife: True. I don't think God would be partial that way.

Me: Yeah. Like I said, He's got no virtues. He doesn't *choose*. We make all the choices. He only provides the fuel for our actions. You can use that fuel to burn down your house or to light up your way. The choice is *ours*.

Wife: So....we can do whatever we want and He won't do anything about it?

Me: Yes. We can do whatever we want, and He *doesn't* need to do anything about it. Because, the moment you do something, you can rest assured that the consequences of that action are well on their way- some you see immediately, some may take a while. But see them you will. You will get what your actions and the intent deserve.(Pay attention: I'm not saying what *you* deserve, but rather what your actions and intent deserve.) That is to say, an action with a good intent is always going to generate a favorable consequence, and one done in bad intent, will obviously result in an unfavorable consequence. Simple logic.

Wife: Very true! Now I can see the real truth. Now I don't need to go to any temples! ;-)

Me: Haha. I never said you shouldn't go to temples or any other places of worship. You are right in every way to go to your place of worship and pray. But you'll not be right if you simply stop there, and don't see Him inside you. Give Him a form if you like, but don't start believing He's only that. He's a lot more- He's everything and He's nothing too.

Me: Remember- God is in everything we see, everything we do, both inside and outside us.

Wife: Umm, all this is good, but tell me, if we all know that we have the divine energy within us, why isn't this world as just as it should be? And why do we, as individuals, still have things like hatred, anger, pride and jealousy?

Me: Ah yes, very good point that. Well, that is the actual purpose of the journey of our lives! To learn, understand, realize and live this fact! The sad part is that we are born in a world that blinds us with all the glitter and glamour and all things material, so to even accept the things we've discussed, you'll need a great deal of courage and determination to unlearn all the things you have so far and start living in harmony with everything around you and everything within you.

One small step...

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 05:03:00 +0000

I moved to the U.S. recently and as with any major 'transition', the move presented me an opportunity to leave behind all the unnecessary, unwanted and junk in my life and bring with me only those things that really mattered to me and my work and the things that I'm really passionate about.

Of those things, one is particularly important and close to my heart, and one that gives me immense happiness and peace of mind. It's the number one thing on my "10 things I want to do before..." list. Yes, I'm talking about helping others help themselves. At the risk of sounding ostentatious, I want to tell as many people as I can that I finally resumed my philanthropic responsibilities and have started sponsoring food, medicine and education for a few children. Along with donating to some charities and the relief fund for the floods in Pakistan, I have started sponsoring three kids(two in the African continent, one in Dominican Republic) and I hope to continue helping these three kids until they come to a stage where they start leading a decent life on their own.

"That's good, but why do you want to tell others?" you ask, eh? Well the answer is simple, and the reason is the number five thing on that same list again. So, it's that time for me to 'inspire'(read: plead) you to Do The Right Thing and start sponsoring at least one kid. May be the kid you sponsor turns out to be the next Bill Gates or start the next Google and decides to reward his guardian angel! Hey who knows what the future holds for us! Didn't Forrest Gump teach us that "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get"?

"Okay, I'm excited! How do I sponsor the next Bill Gates and how much is the minimum amount for sponsoring a child?" you ponder. Worry not dear friend, there are many organizations that help you sponsor a child for under a meager 35 USD to 45 USD per month. The organizations I sponsored through are World Vision and Children.org. I encourage you to go through both of those organizations' charters and Take That Step, NOW. Besides, this is the only thing that makes you look good and save money at the same time(tax savings)!

If at least one person out of the ten who read this post ends up sponsoring a child, it would make me mighty happy even if the other nine find this post as an egotistical attempt to brag about my actions. A few cold shoulders and snubs are totally fine with me as long as this helps a child get his education and food he deserves in this world.

And, unlike our mission to the moon, when you take this one small step, it is indeed a giant leap for mankind. So, do it now!

P.S.: I know that a lot of you already donate to charities and take up social responsibilities way more that what I do, but I still wanted to spread the word.

An Open Letter to KCR

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:09:00 +0000

Dear Mr. KCR,

I'm writing this letter in a hope that it will instill some much needed decency and responsibility in your behavior and speech.

Before I start, let me make myself crystal clear here- fighting for a cause, even a personal one, is something that is your fundamental right and I'm not talking about that here. What I want to talk about is _how_ you are fighting for it. I am pretty sure that a great politician of your stature remembers not only our constitutional rights and responsibilities, but also our fundamental rights and the fundamental duties that every citizen of India has. However, I am still willing to give you the benefit of doubt and assume that you are doing nothing intentionally. Unless you feel that the rules that apply to a citizen of India somehow do not apply to a person like you, I'd like to highlight the following cases where you have either hurt the fundamental rights of your fellow citizens or you have violated our constitutional laws:

You publicly threaten everyone who oppose the creation of Telangana by saying that you will cut off their tongues. If you are wondering what is wrong with that, consider these:

You have effectively hurt the fundamental right to the freedom of speech of all those who oppose you.
You have in a way, indulged yourself in hate speech.

You publicly threaten that there will be a bloodbath if a separate state of Telangana is not created. If you are still wondering(and I won't be surprised) as to what is wrong with this one too:

Apart from obviously violating your fundamental responsibility of upholding our constitution and your responsibility to help maintain peace, by directly and indirectly threating the Government of India, you have made yourself punishable under Section 121A, Section 153A and Section 166 of the Indian Penal Code.

You publicly and in a very indecent language asked forced everyone in Telangana to support your cause.

You got yourself a free booking under Section 503 of the Indian Penal Code for Criminal Intimidation.

You publicly threaten that you wont allow Telugu films to be screened(although you don't mind Hindi/English/Tamil/etc., movies to be screened).

You've potentially made yourself punishable under Sections 504 and 505.

These and many other statements you made that violate my civil and fundamental rights have in effect made a citizen of India afraid of going out with his family in public in the fear of putting his family's health and wealth, both mental and physical, at a risk of getting damaged.

Please, for the sake of humanity and for your own benefit, stop these hate speeches and instill some decency in your addresses to the common man.

Finally, as an epilogue, I'd like to remind you that keeping quiet and being powerless are two different things.

Best regards,

An Indian Citizen.

References

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech
2. http://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/IndianPenalCode/indianpenalcode.htm
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_Rights_in_India

My Wedding Invitation(read: Calling all Philanthropists and Sponsors)

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:53:00 +0000

Yeah, that's right. I've decided that happiness is not the only thing in life. Marriage, as they say, is the triumph of imagination and hope over intelligence and logic. I'll assert the relevance of that statement in a short while(although my sixth sense, in a very oh-don't-tell-me-you-don't-know tone confirms the truth in that statement).

The girl who gets to eat me in full is Lakshmi, a good friend whom I know for the last seven or eight years. She works at Polaris in Hyderabad, and she's pretty good at her work(hint/read: ask for her resume). She is a sweet girl, very innocent and charming(you know I have to say all these things about her, right?). 'Nuff said.

Don't ask me how we met. Okay, you ended up asking that question anyway.
I used Google Search to find my better half:

<WARNING: Boring material ahead. Skip to the all-important How to sponsor section if you're not interested in the answer to the question above>

<Boring section, a.k.a. How I Met The Mother(of my imaginary child)>
The narcissist that I was, I had to advertise the latest hotness on the internet during my college days- my first website, and how do I get to do that? CHAIN MAILS!(bwahaha). I would scavenge on those chain mails my innocent friends would forward, extract all the email ids and then send a mass mail out to those folks asking them to checkout the new hotness, and being the perfectionist I am, I would follow up with people who showed on-line after I sent those mails!(again, bwahaha). Out of those innocent prey, there was this girl, who pinged back saying that my site sucks!! gggrrrrrrr!!! and then she started appreciating the creativity and the content....you see where it was going, right? We then decided to meet and we did, we became friends, and we continued that way.
<End of Boring Section>

I used to feel that she fell prey to all my tricks, my "self-dabba", my charm, and my self-proclamation of my good nature(read: you-won't-find-a-slave-like-me nature). Fast forward a few years, I realized that the hunter was the actual hunted and the seemingly innocent prey was a predator in disguise, with an accuracy that would put a dragon-fly to shame! sigh. I lost. She won.

Anyway, past is past. The bright side is that my future will look exactly(best case scenario) like my past- so now I already know what to do! :-)

The way I'm seeing it all, I feel like I'm taking a free fall- jumping into an act with blind faith, with the confidence that others have done this and are still alive.

<IMPORTANT SECTION: PLEASE READ>
The good news I have for you is that YOU can be one of the sponsors for my wedding! yes YOU! Your name will live forever, and you will have your way through St. Peter's! And knowing that different people have different levels of commitment, I have come up with the following events that you can choose to sponsor:
GOLD SPONSORS: Marriage Hall, Decor, Food(catering), Gold Jewelery... (ANY ONE of these)
SILVER SPONSORS: Live Music, Bachelors Party (BOTH of these)
PLATINUM SPONSORS: Marriage Hall, Decor, Food and Gold! <== RECOMMENDED Hurry up, this is a once in a life-time opportunity to serve yours truly! RSVP for sponsorship through comments, mail, phone. I will ensure that you get enough advertisement and will also have banners and placards to show my gratitude. <End of Important Section. Please feel free to re-read or forward this section to your friends> GROUND ZERO: Sri Agrasen Bhavan, 149, Brig Syed Road, Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.(For the hypertext-ically challenged, please click on that link to see a map).

TIME: T - zero, where T = 27th July 2009, 12:12am. Dinner starts Sunday 26th July 2009, 7p.m. onwards.

Come, feast on me. Laugh at me. Console me. But please do come.

But all jokes apart, I'm happy that I'm getting married to her. I have had my share of joys and sorrows with her, and I look forward to a lifetime's worth of some wonderful and memorable moments with her. She's a wonderful person, and I take it upon me to give her nothing but happiness till my last breath, not because I love her, but because she deserves it. I sincerely feel that she's the best for me for what I am.

Here's me saying "I do". Amen.

Sri Agrasen Bhavan - View Larger Map

Frustrations of a Common Man - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:28:00 +0000

Democracy - The Real Matrix

"Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people." - Abraham Lincoln.

That was the caption in one of the chapters from my Civics course back when I was in my IX standard. That was what my teacher taught us about Democracy. That was what I grew up thinking Democracy to be. And that democracy is good because people's opinions are valued and considered before the government takes any decision.

It's been around 11 years since my first rendezvous with Democracy as a subject, and after these 11 long, directionless, yet somehow rewarding years, it's but oh-so-obvious to me that everything my teacher taught me was all a big lie. Yep, the whole part, all the way.

Every time I think of Democracy, I'm reminded of the movie The Matrix, more specifically, of what Morpheus says about the matrix in that movie- "It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth- That you are a slave. Like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind...." and I'll say that these machines built this huge computer program because they in deed had no other way to survive, unlike the parasites that plague our real societies here. Every time I see these politicians using the law for running their family businesses and every time I see them overpower the few that wake up from their social slumber, this scary similarity only grows stronger.

Democracy, as it stands today, is an illusion created by the people with power and money to blind the other kind of people- the poor/powerless/scared/helpless kind from seeing the obvious, that they are being devoured by these parasites who are sucking the guts out of these poor people with no mercy and with absolutely no social responsibility what-so-ever. All this blood just to fill their pockets green.

The sad part about this whole déjà vu is the fact that just as there were some people hopelessly tied to the matrix for their survival, and how some people accepted it as the real truth, some even fighting for the machines, I've seen people who are hopelessly dependent on these parasites for their livelihood. They fail to realize that the blood sucking leeches they support will not spare anyone- including their supporters and their families. However, unlike the movie, and very unfortunately, the Morpheus of this real world is yet to free himself from this illusion, let alone finding Neo.

Democracy today is no longer about the good of the common man, rather it has been reduced to a tool for exploiting the common man by manipulating the law. As long as the very people who are supposed to prevent corruption and crime(our police and justice departments) are themselves corrupt, these parasites will continue to feed on us, bribing their way out of every crime they commit and buying every judgment that should have gone against them.

MySQL-python 1.2.2 for python 2.4 on Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard)

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:42:00 +0000

There are a few posts around which have bits of what was needed for getting mysql-python working on my leopard, but they missed out the prerequisites for 10.5. So here's the complete deal for getting mysql-python up and running on your Mac OS box.

Pop your Mac OS Disk 1 in, go to Optional Installs->Xcode Tools->Packages and install the following(if you don't have them installed already):
a. gcc4.0.pkg
b. MacOSX10.4.Universal.pkg
c. DeveloperToolsSystemSupport.pkg
d. DeveloperToolsCLI.pkg
After you install these packages, run the following command to create a symlink:

   $ sudo ln -s /SDKs /Developer/SDKs

Now you're leopard install is ready for setting up mysql-python. Proceed with the following steps:

1. Download MySQL-python-1.2.2.
2. Extract the source and set it up:

   $ tar zxf MySQL-python-1.2.2.tar.gz
  $ cd MySQL-python-1.2.2
  $ sudo ln -s /usr/local/mysql/lib /usr/local/mysql/lib/mysql

3a. Edit the _mysql.c file and make the following changes:

   $ vim _mysql.c

3b. In this file, delete or comment out the following lines:

#ifndef uint
#define uint unsigned int
#endif

3c. And change the following:

uint port = MYSQL_PORT;
uint client_flag = 0;

unsigned int port = MYSQL_PORT;
unsigned int client_flag = 0;

4. If you get an error like

    #error "LONG_BIT definition appears wrong for platform
           (bad gcc/glibc config?)."

then:

    $ sudo vim /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.4/include \
     /python2.4/pyport.h

and comment out the line that raises the error(line 616, which reads exactly as the error message that was spit.)
5. Now add the mysql bin directory to your path:

   $ export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin

6. Clean and install the extension:

   $ python setup.py clean
  $ python setup.py install

NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE THE SAME BINARY ARCHITECTURE FOR BOTH PYTHON AND MYSQL. WHAT IT MEANS IS THAT IF YOU HAVE A 32-BIT VERSION OF PYTHON INSTALLED ON YOUR SYSTEM, THEN YOU NEED TO HAVE A 32-BIT VERSION OF MYSQL INSTALLED. YOU CANNOT MIX 32-BIT WITH 64-BIT OR 64-BIT WITH 32-BIT APPLICATIONS. AT THE VERY LEAST, YOU WILL END UP GETTING ERRORS LIKE THE FOLLOWING:

ImportError: dynamic module does not define init function (init_mysql)

ImportError: Loaded module does not contain symbol _init_mysql

References:
MangoOrange
Red Elephants

The Beauty of Life

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 01:49:00 +0000

It's Sunday morning and I know I can't see my life any more balanced than what it was when I woke up today. Things have been good at work lately, and they have been good on my personal front too. I also finally managed not to postpone the appointment with my doc and saw him yesterday. So, as I sat down to enjoy my morning tea I felt my head was lighter than yesterday, lighter without the tensions or stress from so many yesterdays. It felt real good, that feeling, and after a very long time. I started to think about how I managed to get here, the things I did right and how did I do them right.

For me, life has always been about learning from experiences. I can't think of a time that I did something with a good deal of thought and planning. Many, many a time I've jumped first and blind-fold, trusting that the ones I'm jumping for truly understand me and will save me from getting hurt. But I ended up getting hurt on several occasions. There were times when I was wrong in trusting those people, and then there were times when it was purely my mistake that I jumped without knowing that there was no one there, and in fact that it was me who had made them walk away, made them lose their trust in me. Yet, I never stopped jumping for them. I, for some reason, learn things the hard way- after I injure myself, after I burn my fingers. But I never regret about this. I am an emotional person and I feel this allows me to be free from judging people until they, in deed, prove themselves worthy or unworthy of my trust , and that happens only after giving the other person the right to explain themselves and the right to try again, so that I never have to take the guilt trip.

My life(so far) has been just as wonderful as it has been painful. When I look back at it, and go as far as my consciousness allows me to, I see each day I lived as a collection of unforgettable memories- fond and lovely, scary and regretful, sweet and funny, sour and real bad; with everyone of them teaching me something new. And I've realized the fundamental theme of my life to be this- I had good times and then I had better times :-). Good times were the lighter, fond, lovely, sweet and beautiful ones. The better times were the ones that have been really tough on me, the ones that helped me get stronger and helped me become what I am today.

I feel grateful for this new morning, for the real beauty of life is its balancing act- taking me far far away from everything and everyone I know, detaching itself from me. I feel that every new Today gives me yet another chance to right my wrongs of Yesterday, it gives me yet another chance to do something about the issues that concern me, yet another chance to show the people I care about that I in deed do.

PyXMPP on Windows

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:05:00 +0000

I searched around a bit for this module on windows, and I couldn't find any. But, yes. You can use it now. I recently had a need and I downloaded the tar ball, customized it, and built a windows binary using mingw32 from cygwin, and it works.

Here's the process:
-- install dnspython, or use Easy Install for Python on Windows, which I personally prefer.
-- install M2Crypto or again, use easy_install if you're lazy like me.
-- install the libxml2 python package for windows.
-- get the pyxmpp package for Windows.(Note: I created this package on my vista box, with a python 2.5.2 install, so ensure you have python 2.5.x to work with this.)
-- pyxmpp's api docs, to jabber your way to g(l)ory from windows!

P.S: let me know if you're interested in building one yourself and you need some expert advise ;-) j/k.

Is this the best we can do?

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:18:00 +0000

I frequent The Guardian a lot as they keep coming up with good, informative articles, but at times, it saddens me completely to see someone talk about their own land without hope, more so when its someone like Aravind who apparently has traveled around his country a lot. I'm refering to his article Indians' worst fear: the honest politician where he mentions that Indians not only accept corruption, but also fear and reject a novel or an honest politician, and has his own theory for it. Now, what really scares me is that these articles are different compared to their traditional print counterparts- they are accessible from anywhere in the world; they can reach many more people than any print editions could ever, and that usually translates to a lot of people who have never been to India and have probably never met the average Indian(someone living in India). What does it mean? You can screw up and spread a lot of unhealthy vibes really easy, especially, if you're someone who has got "an independent and a different yet interesting point of view" of looking at things.

For starters, I consider myself an average Indian, who lives in India and who IS INDEED really worried about and bothered by the corruption, and NOT by the lack of it, as Aravind mentions. If anything, his article would definitely be a pleasant and a warm welcome for all the corrupt people out there. If I'm a person with corrupt practices, I'd have definitely appreciated Aravind a lot for his article. But guess what. I'm not. Unfortunately for Aravind, I still think positively about my country. Lets take the case of the honest politician Aravind talks about that he won't be able to get anything done. Well, first of all, I've got three words for Aravind- speak for yourself! and secondly- who the fuck are you to say what an honest person can or cannot do?! If its out of your puny little imagination, or should I say, you're corrupt imagination, to think what such a politician can do, then STFU pal. At the very least DO NOT represent the billion people you don't even know about.

I must point out that this is not just against one person, but a few people out there who are infectious in all the wrong ways. They are like a disease and spread negativity around. What they fail to understand is the fact that _they_ are the root cause, not the politicians. I read a lot of such articles about our country by such like-minded people who glorify all the wrongs and yet somehow forget that they're responsible for the current state of affairs as well, but I rarely feel like venting it out since I am ashamed of myself for not contributing to the good of my country.

Look at the developed world- U.S.A, U.K, Australia, Timbuktu, take a pick. Do you think there's no corruption there? Do you think there's no bribes going around? So why are they still in a good state? Apart from all the technical difficulties and feasibility issues, the fundamental difference between us and them is that they really do care for their country. Every single person loves their country and is proud of it. They never lose hope, and even if they highlight their country's negatives, they ensure they do it in all their patriotism and their love for their country. Most importantly, they feel responsible for their country's health- be it economic, mental or physical.

Look at all the other countries struggling- Any African nation, any third world country- the difference is so obvious- people leave their own land for greener pastures. There is no sense of responsibility, none. NADA. Neh.

Take as an example, some irresponsible person from India- he would happily, carelessly, irresponsibly litter all over the place in his own town in India, but if you take the same guy and put him in Singapore or the U.S., he's all of a sudden scared to litter. Why? Accountability comes into play, and with it responsibility. Now, there is the involvement of public authorities to some extent in instilling that fear, but we cannot deny the sudden realization that sprung up in that individual, from no where. That is what we need to cultivate. This is just one of the many things that need to be done, and the best part of it all- they really can be done!

Over 45% of Indian population is 30 or below. I see hope. I see a new tomorrow where the young wont litter anymore, where our children will grow up with a sense of responsibility and accountability, and where people are proud of their motherland. And guess who's responsible for instilling those things? yes, you and me. If I tell my kids today to not litter around, they wont, and they don't need any public authorities for that. I have seen places where the public authorities are punctual in their chores because they are scared of the people living in those areas- those few residents remind the authorities of their responsibilities and their accountability to the society.

I'm not the one who will want to live with corrupt people and die silently so that my children will continue to do the same, and I'm not going to tell my children to accept corruption as a part of their lives. No.

Folks, spread the word, not the disease. Please.

Luv,
~H - an Indian who knows he's partially responsible for the current state of corruption, but who's not without hope.

10 things I want to do before...

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:36:00 +0000

I've renewed my energy and just signed a pact with Him to let me live for another 50 years. I'm rearing to go. I am.

These are the 10 things I want to do before I kick the bucket, not necessarily in the same order:
#1 - Help at least 100 families help themselves, sustain themselves.
#2 - Do my masters in political sciences/world economics.
#3 - Be the best father and husband off the shelf ;-) - if you get what I mean :D
#4 - Make a difference to the environment, by not wasting it
#5 - Inspire/influence/beg/bribe/pay/force/black-mail at least 2 people who care for our country to actually DO something for its good
#6 - Get real appreciation for my photography skills :)
#7 - Collect sand samples from at least 50 countries...I already have sand from 12 countries
#8 - get totally high on gadgets- go gadget freak!
#9 - Visit and get involved in at least 30 beautiful places within India, and other parts of the world
#10 - This one is reserved for future use.

Of course, there are many other things I want to do, like go kick Mugabe's ass, clean up the corruption thats oh-so prevalent in my country, free the fcuked up souls who kill others in the name of religion, but these are highly lofty goals and I wanted to set myself some achievable goals- learned this from experience, trust me. :-)

OMFG! I found the answer!!

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:35:00 +0000

If you have read my previous posts, you'll find a few of them to be around my search for the meaning and the reason why I'm here and the restlessness created by those questions crippling me. I tried a lot of things including Zen (I just cannot like Osho after I read his 'preachings', seriously, please don't ask me) and few other things(I am highly severely painfully hopelessly critical about these things and raise a bazillion and one arguments and question their core fundamentals and I don't buy an answer easily)....and then I came across 'logotherapy'. Its derived out of 'logos' meaning reason and 'therapy' meaning cure. It essentially means, cure by reasoning and has some highly powerful, effective and remarkably simple techniques to answer these questions. I highly recommend this book by Viktor E. Frankl, to know what I'm talking about. That book, along with the ones on Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman are very powerful tools and I owe a lot to these two folks.

Anyway, I finally got something which was convincing enough for me and answered all my questions and then suddenly, it came onto me- a disbelief that my struggle to find out the reason for me being here is finally over?!! -- "OMG! How is that possible? No, it can't be!" was what I kept hearing from within me. Something kept telling me it cannot be the answer, although irrationally, but slowly I realized I was in fact trying to reason myself out, like coming to a compromise with my other half, and even trying to shut down my physiological circuitry. For a moment, that resistance felt as if I've turned into some sort of adjective thats closely related to a masochist and a sympathizer! That feeling shook me up. I can be anything, but not a self-sympathizer. period. Those people don't deserve to live. They are emotional black-mailers. I'm not. I'm lazy and at times irresponsible(and even at times humorous in a sadistic way), but it ends there. I swear to you.

After a long time, I felt I was in control of my own self, in a true, pure, unadulterated way. I felt powerful, knowing(although discovering would probably be a better word to use here) the answer. I can see a huge spike of energy and positivity in me- the level of spike that would happen if BBC posted some exotic pics of the top 10 most beautiful women on this planet ;-D .....I think I'll be able to do a lot more now, you know...realize my full potential and blah...

I think it would be a wrong thing to reveal the answer that I found as I know I'm not half of half of what Viktor E. Frankl was, and I don't want to give incomplete/wrong/misleading information. Go find your own answer in this book :-)

A tribute to my grandfather, the 'Tiger'

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:11:00 +0000

They say that you can take away everything from a man and I mean everything- including his life, but you cannot take away his attitude and his will. I've heard of such things before, but over the last two or three weeks, I've witnessed that very thing happen in front of my very own self, in my own family, and I consider myself very fortunate to be around with him during his last few days, with him during his last few smiles, with him in his last few happy moments, with my grandpa.

'Tiger', many of his grandsons(including me) called him so fondly, for we saw him truly live like one - never, even for a moment, even till his last breath, dependent on his family and never afraid of anything, not even death(which I realized yesterday). His eyes never had fear and gave out no signs of weakness, physical or mental, ever. Even when we took him to the hospital for the initial diagnosis and treatment, the folks there would initially think that it was my grand mother, or may be my mother, who was to be diagnosed, but never thought it could be my grand father. He never looked a patient, never let that pain make him look vulnerable.

As a person, he never troubled anyone, anyone at all. From what I've heard of his childhood and his life till the time I had my own consciousness and then from what I've seen of him, I can only say that he was a good son, a good brother, a good colleague, a good husband, a good father and a good grand father. Even during his last days, he tried to ensure that he wasn't a burden for his family and never let us know the pain and suffering he might have gone through with that disease.

The day he was back from the hospital, after the doctors gave up all hope on his recovery, he told me "..I am not worried at all. I have my family by my side now. I didn't want to die in the hospital. Now that I'm home, I don't care when I die.." - he said that with a certain amount of relief and pride, as if he won a battle against someone, or against something in this case. He was never afraid, he was never worried. Even during these times, it was us who were made to look weak and vulnerable.

He passed away this Monday, breathing his last breathe in my arms. Amongst the things he said to me during the last week till the day before he died, two things that I can never forget- that I should not go to work the 'next day'(the day he would die) and I should stand by my dad and support him. I had no idea why he wanted me to stay back home the next day, not until he passed away in my arms. Honestly, I don't know if it was a coincidence or if he really knew he was going to die.

I was there by his side when he was struggling to breathe, and all I could do was run and call the doctor, and till the doctor showed up, I just stood there, hoping and praying that he make's it through one more time. I felt like I was a criminal. I was disgusted with my helplessness and ignorance as I couldn't even help him breathe. For the first time, I felt I should have been a doctor. I felt like I was a criminal.

In spite of all my helplessness and my 'uselessness', I am proud that I chose to be with him and not go to work on that day, for I had the opportunity to be with him by his side and hold his hand, a unique opportunity which comes only once in a person's lifetime.

In this part of the world, we cremate the body and wait till we hear the skull burst out, (symbolically)freeing the soul from its body. Bhoomaiah Kotha, died of cancer on the 26th of May 2008 and was cremated the same evening, with utmost respect and honor.

I look at this post as his epitaph, reading "Here was a man who lived like a tiger- fearless, independent and full of grace."

Grandpa, may your soul rest in eternal peace. - Luv, your grandson.

P.S: As with everything else, time will fill this void and there will be a day when I wont feel his loss anymore. I hope by then, I can learn and start to live with an attitude like the one he lived with, till the moment he left us.

Please Understand Me

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:29:00 +0000

If I do not want what you want, please try not to tell me my want is wrong.

Or if I believe other than you, at least pause before you correct my view.

Or if my emotion is less than yours, or more, given the same circumstances, try not to ask me to feel more strongly or weakly.

Or yet, if I act, or fail to act, in the manner of your design for action, let me be.

I do not, for the moment at least, ask you to understand me. That will come only when you are willing to give up changing me into a copy of you.

I may be your spouse, your parent, your offspring, your friend, or your colleague. If you will allow me any of my own wants, or emotions, or beliefs, or actions, then you open yourself, so that some day these ways of mine might not seem so wrong, and might finally appear to you as right- for me.

To put up with me is the first step to understanding me. Not that you embrace my ways as right for you, but that you are no longer irritated or disappointed with me for my seeming waywardness. And in understanding me, you might come to prize my differences from you, and far from seeking to change me, preserve me and even nurture those differences.

This is an excerpt from "Please Understand Me", by David W. Keirsey. I cannot think of a more appropriate time than now to put this up, for what I've experienced lately. But the reason I wanted to put this up here is that if anyone reads this, I want them to appreciate all the people whom they think are crazy/stupid/worthless as simply people who are slightly different from what they were 'expected' to be.

Why Social Network services cannot grow beyond...

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:03:00 +0000

Social Network services, who on the internet hasn't heard of them! Almost everyone has an account in one of the major social networking sites like Facebook or Orkut or MySpace. You bet. Even I had one (yes, *had*).

Why did I stop using it then? It was free, it was fun and it was cool to be on any of these networks. But, after a few months, I slowly began to struggle to find a purpose, to find a reason for me to log on to the network. It was just looking at other people's profiles, looking at the new videos they added, looking at their photos and that's all.

I realized then, that these networking sites lack one fundamental component that's one of the key pillars of holding a group of friends or a community together- Empathy, or in a broader sense, human emotions. I might be having a zillion friends on Orkut, but every time I log onto that website, I don't scrap the same people. It depends on my mood- on my emotional balance at that specific point in time. If I'm happy, I'd be thinking of my good friends back home with whom I had pure, sheer, raw fun. If I'm sad, I'd be thinking of someone who got me out of depression last time, or someone whom I'd really like to avoid talking to right now. If I'm angry, I'll probably think of my pal who can make me laugh even when I'm asleep. These sites lack that connection-making ability. These sites don't capture 'personalities'. They simply capture 'profiles'. People are far far beyond profiles. You need to capture people's moods, people's emotions.

Imagine a place, where as soon as you log in, you see that your friend Alex is upset for the last three days and he might need your help- you know from his 'personality' that he hates to talk about work when he's sad and you also know that he simply loves to go on long drives anytime, any day, twice on Sundays. You now have the chance of helping your good friend and now you also know more importantly, what topics to avoid should you try to help him, and all thanks to this wonderful site!(Note: you could have also configured your preferences so that it sends you an sms whenever you're friends are sad for more than three days, so you could have even avoided logging on to the network....possibilities are unlimited.)

This is just one small example of how human emotions and their moods can change the dimensions of a service, completely. And this is exactly the reason(or lack of) why I slowly faded away from these sites after a few months, unable to feel anything, unable to find out how my friends are feeling now. To put it in technical terms(in the OSI model of network layers to be more specific), to me, a social network is nothing more than an encapsulated network at the application layer.

I'm not sure how many of you guys out there feel the same way as I do. It would be good to know if you feel what I said sounds true, or if you'd recommend I go back to my bottle of Glenfiddich and try to improve my Golf score of eight under par on my Wii.

By the way, this concept of emotion goes far beyond social networking services and well into the realm of online advertising on these sites. Me working in a very good job, with a good educational background doesn't guarantee I'll click on that ad which says "Package tours to Hawaii!" if I'm sad at that time, but on the other hand, an ad that said "looking for a good retreat?" might have got my attention and my click.(well at least in all probability, it would have been the best bet)

The Death Report - How Many People Died On Your Birthday?

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:28:00 +0000

139,362 People

How Many Five Year Olds Could You Take In A Fight?

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:24:00 +0000

My 'must-have' stuff for Vista - making it more cool

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:23:00 +0000

I got my brand new Lenovo T61p with Vista Ultimate pre-installed. The laptop's great. And Vista Ultimate is cool. But there are still a lot of things I miss that are like 'required/critical/necessary'. So, after I finish installing all my admin/power user stuff(read: windows admin tools, scripting utilities, editors etc.), I started customizing Vista to make me drool over my screen(since I've stopped working actively for a few months now, I figured I needed something to ensure I stick to my screen :D). I started with some regular stuff like Firefox and iTunes and etc. and then went on to some light-weight stuff(my laptop has got only 2GB of RAM(yet ;-)) that really makes Vista very pretty and worth showing off. Oh btw, all the cool stuff is ONLY FREEWARE, so donate if you like any of the software and support those guys!

So here's my list of 'must have's, in sequence:

1. Firefox - This is my first install, as all the other stuff are usually somewhere out there on the internet and I hate *other* browsers ;-) ..well, then I install a few necessary add-ons:
showIP,greasemonkey,AdBlockPlus,LiveHTTPHeaders,Netcraft,TabMixPlus and some others depending on my mood :P (although, please be aware that installing a lot of add-ons can screw Firefox big time)

2. FlashGet download manager. Super simple. Super light. Super sexy.

3. ALZip from ALTools. This is a cool archive manager...works with CD image formats along with a host of other formats....and its light weight. Its tied for first place with 7zip. (ALTools guys also have a host of other neat stuff worth giving a try)

4. VLC Media Player - forget about the rest. Period.

5. InterfaceLift and vladstudio - my favorites for wallpapers. They have cool stuff at really high resolutions(>1900 x 1200)

6. Google Pack - includes Picasa, Google Desktop, Google Photos Screensaver, Google Talk, Google Earth (basically all Google apps) plus other 3rd party applications like Adobe Reader, Real Player...saves me a lot of time and they keep adding new stuff to this list.

7. CoreUtils package for Windows - I used install "UnxUtils", but they're kinda out of date now...and I install these instead...must have for people who work on command line a lot. The guys at GNUWin32 also have a lot of other useful packages.

8. Console - a cool replacement for the "command prompt" shell in Windows.It's tabbed, transparent, sleek and sexy. Has pretty useful features as well. Working on the command-line was never this sexy.

9. My Exposé - OS X style. F9 or move to a corner to get the Exposé effect of OS X. Simple and sexy.

10. Foxit PDF Reader - Recently discovered this wonderfully light-weight and super fast PDF reader. You wont touch Adobe Reader again. I haven't.

11. Dark Room - From their web-site: "Dark Room is a full screen, distraction free, writing environment". That's exactly what it is. Just great when I want to pen, umm...key down my thoughts.

12. Omea Reader - Atom/RSS/newsgroup Reader. I like it and I use it. Never faced any issues. It's either this or RSS Bandit

13. Video Codecs - DivX, Xvid, CCCP(community codec pack) and its never complete without GSpot, no, please, I meant the codec info tool.

I'm sure there's plenty of other cool stuff out there which I might have never tried till now, but if I do, I'll definitely update this place.

Merry Christmas and season's greetings!

life, my stuggle, my questions. contd..

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 06:40:00 +0000

One of the biggest issues I've had with myself is the struggle to find answers to my questions about life and why we are here. Every time, I end up not finding answers to my questions and then end up drawing the wrong(apparently) conclusions that all this is not meant to be.

Today, I noticed one of my friends' status message on GTalk which read "Not every question has an answer accompanying it". I invariably stumbled upon a reaction/reply to that message which in turn made me realize why I couldn't find any answers to my questions about all the crazy stuff- I couldn't find the answers not because they were not available, I couldn't find the answers because I am not ready for them, because I'm not capable of feeling and understanding and identifying them even though I might have seen them already. It's very simple once we look at this analogy- consider a 12 year old who just knows that airplanes are a lot heavier than us and struggles to find answers to his question- "When we can't fly, how can those things fly???". His reply might be "according to my logic its not possible". Actually his reply should be - "according to MY logic, its not possible"- because he is simply not there yet to understand the physics of an airplane.

This makes my belief in the saying "discoveries are always made by accident" a bit more stronger.

Yes, every question does have an answer. The answers are all in our sub-conscious selves. It's just that we are not ready to bring them out to our conscious selves.

MP3 library organizer reading ID3 tags in Python

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:19:00 +0000

I was setting up a new machine at my home and I had to copy the music from my iPod back onto my disk and noticed that the file names and the directory structure was a complete disaster! - This gave me a good opportunity to write some python code which would actually be useful..so here goes...

Its a fairly simple one thats small in functionality. It will finally organize the files for you in a hierarchical manner- i.e., Create a directory for an Artist and create sub-directories for all his albums; or in a flat structure- i.e., create one directory per album as Artist-Album (no sub-directories).

How to run it:
If you have python installed, just copy paste the code in a file, name it whatever you feel like, but ensure it ends with an extension '.py' and from a command prompt, type in

filename.py

and it will show all the options available which I am hoping are self explanatory.

Hope it comes in handy for someone out there....

---Start of Code---



############################################################################
#Orginal filename: alfred.py
#Initial Version: 0.1
#       - Command-Line version only
#       - options for organizing by ID3v1 tags or v2.[2-4] types
#       - moderate exception handling
#       - works only with mp3 file types (extension == .mp3) (deliberately)
############################################################################

'''
Organize your mp3 collection based on the ID3 tags found in the files.
Works with ID3v(1/2/3/4) versions. It extracts ONLY Artist, Album and
Title and organizes your library as Artist1/Album1/Track1 (nested) or 
as Artist1-album1/track1(flat). Works only with files of file type
mp3 (i.e., file extension == .mp3)
'''

import sys
import os
from optparse import OptionParser
import shutil
import re

def main():
  parser = OptionParser()
  parser.add_option("-s","--source",dest="source",
                    help="directory which should be organized."
                    "(This is required)")
  parser.add_option("-d","--dest",dest="dest",
                    help="directory where the files should be saved."
                    "Defaults to the source directory if not specified")
  parser.add_option("-v","--verbose",action="store_true",dest="verbose",
                    help="Display progress in detail."
                    "By default displays only errors/warnings")
  parser.add_option("-c","--compare",action="store_true",dest="compare",
                    help="Find duplicate copies of a file")
  parser.add_option("-m","--move",action="store_true",dest="move",
                    help="Delete the source after restructuring the files")
  parser.add_option("-f","--flat",dest="flat",action="store_true",
                    help="Organize the files in a flat heirarchy as Artist-"
                    "Album rather than nesting Albums as Artist1/Album1")
  parser.add_option("-1","--ID3v1",action="store_true",dest="ID3v1",
                    help="Organize by ID3v1 tags."
                    "By default, does so using ID3v2")
  
  parser.set_defaults(ID3v1=False)
  parser.set_defaults(verbose=False)
  parser.set_defaults(move=False)
  parser.set_defaults(compare=False)
  parser.set_defaults(flat=False)
  (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
    
  if options.source and not options.compare:
      if not options.dest:
          options.dest = options.source
      start_reorg(options.source,options.dest,options.verbose,options.ID3v1,
                  options.move,options.flat)
  elif options.source and options.compare:
      finddup(options.source,options.verbose)
  else:
      (options,args) = parser.parse_args(["-h"])


def start_reorg(source,dest_dir,isVerbose = False,readID3v1 = False,
                move = False,flat = False):
  '''
  Parses the source directory for mp3 files and calls another function to
  extract information and organize the mp3 files. If there are sub-directories
  \b, it will call itself recursively.
  NOTE: WILL ONLY PARSE FILES WITH A ".mp3" EXTENSION.
  
  source - String(C:\path\\to\music) containing mp3 files or to an mp3 file
            if you want to organize only one file
  dest_dir - String(C:\\new\path) where the files will be organized and saved
  Verbose? - Boolean. 1 prints all activity, 0 prints only errors/warning
  Default 0
  ID3 version? - Boolean. 1 reads ID3v1 info, 0 reads ID3v2 or v3 or v4 tags
  Default 0
  Move (Delete source?) - Boolean. 1 deletes source. 0 keeps(copy operation)
  Default 0
  '''
  absname = ''
  if os.path.exists(source):
    if os.path.isfile(source) and \
    os.path.splitext(source)[-1].lower() == '.mp3':
      organize(source,os.path.dirname(source),isVerbose,readID3v1,
               move,flat)
      sys.exit(0)
    elif not os.path.isdir(source):
      print '%s not a directory.' % (source)
      sys.exit(-1)
    
    if not os.path.exists(dest_dir) and not os.path.isdir(dest_dir):
      try:
        os.mkdir(dest_dir)
      except (WindowsError,IOError),err:
        print ('ERROR: %s trying to create destination directory %s'
               % (str(err),dest_dir))
        sys.exit(-1)
    elif os.path.exists(dest_dir) and os.path.isdir(dest_dir):
      mprint ('Found directory "%s"...going in' % (source),isVerbose)
      for filename in os.listdir(source):
        absname = os.path.join(source, filename)
        if os.path.isdir(absname):
          start_reorg(absname,dest_dir,isVerbose,readID3v1,move,flat)
        if os.path.isfile(absname):
          if os.path.splitext(absname)[1].lower() == '.mp3':
            mprint('Parsing: %s' % (absname),isVerbose)
            organize(absname,dest_dir,isVerbose,readID3v1,move,flat)
    else:
      print 'ERROR: %s already exists and is not a directory' % (dest_dir)
  else:
    print 'ERROR: %s does not exist' % (source)


def mprint(message,isVerbose=False):
  '''
  Trivial function to print message only if verbose is set to true.
  ---Code---
  if isVerbose:
      print message
  ---Code---
  '''
  if isVerbose:
    print message


def organize(absname,dest_dir,isVerbose,readID3v1,move,flat):
  '''
  Extracts the ID3v(1/2/3/4) tag from an mp3 file, creates a directory tree
  under the destination directory as artist\\album and stores the mp3 file as
  .mp3. NOTE: If the move flag is set to 1 or True, it deletes
  the source file.
  
  absname - full path of the mp3 file
  dest_dir - destination directory (should be created already by its calling
  function)
  readID3v1 - Boolean. 1 looks for ID3v1 info only. Default is 0
  which looks for ID3v2,v3 or v4
  move - Boolean. 1 to delete the source file after operation. Default is 0
  '''
  id3details = {}
  title = ''
  artist = ''
  album = ''
  if readID3v1:
    id3details = getID3v1info(absname)
  else:
    id3details = getID3v2info(absname)

  if not id3details.has_key('error'):
    title = stripinvalidchars(id3details.get('title'))
    album = stripinvalidchars(id3details.get('album'))
    artist = stripinvalidchars(id3details.get('artist'))
  elif id3details.has_key('error') and not readID3v1:
    print 'ID3v2 not found in %s, looking for ID3v1' % (absname)
    organize(absname,dest_dir,isVerbose,True,move,flat)
    return
  else:
    print '%s in %s' % (id3details.get('error'),absname)
    return
  if len(artist) < 1: artist = 'Unknown Artist'
  if len(album) < 1: album = 'Unknown Album'
  if len(title) < 1: title = os.path.basename(absname).strip(".mp3")
  if not flat:
    destdir = os.path.join(dest_dir,artist,album)
  else:
    destdir = os.path.join(dest_dir,'%s - %s' % (artist,album))
  try:
    if not flat and not os.path.exists(os.path.join(dest_dir,artist)):
      os.mkdir(os.path.join(dest_dir,artist))
    if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(destdir)):
      os.mkdir(os.path.join(destdir))
  except TypeError,err:
    print 'ERROR: %s Album info in %s contains illegal characters..' \
        % (str(err),absname)
  except IOError,err:
    print 'ERROR: %s\ntrying to create directory(s) for %s' \
        % (str(err),absname)
  try:
    if not move:
      shutil.copy(absname,os.path.join(destdir,title+'.mp3'))
    else:
      shutil.move(absname,os.path.join(destdir,title+'.mp3'))
  except TypeError,err:
    print'ID3 tag in %s contains non-printable characters..' % (absname)
  except IOError,err:
    print 'ERROR: %s' % (err)
  except shutil.Error,err:
    print str(err)    

def stripinvalidchars(strvalue):
  '''
  Strips off all characters except [a-zA-Z0-9_\-\'\. ] and replaces all
  double or more consecutive whitespace characters with a single space.
  Returns the string in its title format (string.title())
  '''
  strvalue = strvalue.strip('\x00').strip()
  strvalue = re.sub("[^a-zA-Z0-9_\-\'\. !@#$%^&\(\)\{\}\[\]\,]+","",strvalue)
  strvalue = re.sub("\s\s+"," ",strvalue)
  return strvalue.title()

def getID3v1info(absname):
  '''
  Extracts ONLY Artist, Album and Title from ID3v1 tag(if found) and returns
  a dict {'artist':artist,'title':title,'album':album}. If an ID3v1 tag is
  not found, returns a dict {'error':'No ID3v1 info found'}
  '''
  title = ''
  artist = ''
  album = ''
  try:
    fTmp = open(absname,'rb')
    fTmp.seek(-128,2)
    if fTmp.read(3) == "TAG":
      title = fTmp.read(30)
      artist = fTmp.read(30)
      album = fTmp.read(30)
      return({'artist':artist,'title':title,'album':album})
    else:
      return({'error':'No ID3v1 info found'})
  except IOError,err:
    return({'error':str(err)})
  finally:    
    fTmp.close()

def getID3v2info(absname):
  '''
  Extracts ONLY Artist, Album and Title from ID3v(2/3/4) tag(if found) and
  returns a dict {'artist':artist,'title':title,'album':album}.
  If an ID3v2 tag is not found, returns a dict {'error':'No ID3 info found'}
  '''
  id3v24frames=['AENC', 'APIC', 'ASPI', 'COMR', 'ENCR', 'EQU2', 'ETCO', 'GEOB',
                'GRID', 'LINK', 'MCDI', 'MLLT', 'OWNE', 'PRIV', 'PCNT', 'POPM',
                'POSS', 'RBUF', 'RVA2', 'RVRB', 'SEEK', 'SIGN', 'SYLT', 'SYTC',
                'TBPM', 'TCOM', 'TCON', 'TCOP', 'TDEN', 'TDLY', 'TDOR', 'TDRC',
                'TDRL', 'TDTG', 'TENC', 'TEXT', 'TFLT', 'TIPL', 'TIT1', 'TIT3',
                'TKEY', 'TLAN', 'TLEN', 'TMCL', 'TMED', 'TMOO', 'TOAL', 'TOFN',
                'TOLY', 'TOPE', 'TOWN', 'TPE2', 'TPE3', 'TPE4', 'TPOS', 'TPRO',
                'TPUB', 'TRCK', 'TRSN', 'TRSO', 'TSOA', 'TSOP', 'TSOT', 'TSRC',
                'TSSE', 'TSST', 'TXXX', 'UFID', 'USER', 'USLT', 'WCOM', 'WCOP',
                'WOAF', 'WOAR', 'WOAS']
  id3v23frames=['AENC', 'APIC', 'COMM', 'COMR', 'ENCR', 'EQUA', 'ETCO', 'GEOB',
                'GRID', 'IPLS', 'LINK', 'MCDI', 'MLLT', 'OWNE', 'PRIV', 'PCNT',
                'POPM', 'POSS', 'RBUF', 'RVAD', 'RVRB', 'SYLT', 'SYTC', 'TALB',
                'TBPM', 'TCOM', 'TCON', 'TCOP', 'TDAT', 'TDLY', 'TENC', 'TEXT',
                'TFLT', 'TIME', 'TIT1', 'TIT2', 'TIT3', 'TKEY', 'TLAN', 'TLEN',
                'TMED', 'TOAL', 'TOFN', 'TOLY', 'TOPE', 'TORY', 'TOWN', 'TPE1',
                'TPE2', 'TPE3', 'TPE4', 'TPOS', 'TPUB', 'TRCK', 'TRDA', 'TRSN',
                'TRSO', 'TSIZ', 'TSRC', 'TSSE', 'TYER', 'TXXX', 'UFID', 'USER',
                'USLT', 'WCOM', 'WCOP', 'WOAF', 'WOAR', 'WOAS', 'WORS', 'WPAY',
                'WPUB', 'WXXX']
 
  id3v22frames=['BUF', 'CNT', 'COM', 'CRA', 'CRM', 'ETC', 'EQU', 'GEO', 'IPL',
                'LNK', 'MCI', 'MLL', 'PIC', 'POP', 'REV', 'RVA', 'SLT', 'STC',
                'TAL', 'TBP', 'TCM', 'TCO', 'TCR', 'TDA', 'TDY', 'TEN', 'TFT',
                'TIM', 'TKE', 'TLA', 'TLE', 'TMT', 'TOA', 'TOF', 'TOL', 'TOR',
                'TOT', 'TP1', 'TP2', 'TP3', 'TP4', 'TPA', 'TPB', 'TRC', 'TRD',
                'TRK', 'TSI', 'TSS', 'TT1', 'TT2', 'TT3', 'TXT', 'TXX', 'TYE',
                'UFI', 'ULT', 'WAF', 'WAR', 'WAS', 'WCM', 'WCP', 'WPB', 'WXX']
  bcomplete = False
#    talbfound = False
#    tit2found = False
  tpe1found = False
  F_TALB = 'TALB' #Album
  F_TIT2 = 'TIT2' #Title
  F_TPE1 = 'TPE1' #Artist
  F_TT2 = 'TT2' #Title in ID3v2.2 Tags
  F_TP1 = 'TP1' #Artist in ID3v2.2 Tags
  F_TAL = 'TAL' #Album in ID3v2.2 Tags
  title = ''
  artist = ''
  album = ''
  try:
    ftmp = open(absname,'rb')
  except IOError,err:
    return({'error':str(err)})
  else:    
    while not bcomplete:
      buf = betterread(ftmp,4)
      if not buf: break
      if type(buf) != str: break
      if buf[:3] == 'ID3' and ord(buf[-1]) in (2,3,4):
        junk = ftmp.read(6) #remaining header (10 - 3 - 1 bytes)
        while True:
          frm = ''
          if ord(buf[-1]) != 2:
            frm = betterread(ftmp,10)
            frmname = frm[:4]
            frmsize = frm[4:8]
    #       frmflags = frm[8:10]
          else:
            frm = betterread(ftmp,6)
            frmname = frm[:3]
            frmsize = frm[3:6]
          if not frm: break
          if not frmname.isalnum(): break
          frmlen = 0
          if frmname == F_TALB or frmname == F_TAL:
            if ord(buf[-1]) != 2:
              frmlen = (ord(frmsize[-1]) + (16 ** 2) * ord(frmsize[-2]) + 
                        (16 ** 4) * ord(frmsize[-3]) + 
                        (16 ** 8) * ord(frmsize[-4]))
            else:
              frmlen = (ord(frmsize[-1]) + (16 ** 2) * ord(frmsize[-2]) + 
                        (16 ** 4) * ord(frmsize[-3]))
    #         talbfound = True
            txt = ftmp.read(frmlen)
            album = txt
          elif frmname == F_TIT2 or frmname == F_TT2:
            if ord(buf[-1]) != 2:
              frmlen = (ord(frmsize[-1]) + (16 ** 2) * ord(frmsize[-2]) + 
                        (16 ** 4) * ord(frmsize[-3]) + 
                        (16 ** 8) * ord(frmsize[-4]))
            else:
              frmlen = (ord(frmsize[-1]) + (16 ** 2) * ord(frmsize[-2]) + 
                        (16 ** 4) * ord(frmsize[-3]))
    #       tit2found = True
            txt = ftmp.read(frmlen)
            title = txt
          elif frmname == F_TPE1 or frmname == F_TP1:
            if ord(buf[-1]) != 2:
              frmlen = (ord(frmsize[-1]) + (16 ** 2) * ord(frmsize[-2]) + 
                        (16 ** 4) * ord(frmsize[-3]) + 
                        (16 ** 8) * ord(frmsize[-4]))
            else:
              frmlen = (ord(frmsize[-1]) + (16 ** 2) * ord(frmsize[-2]) + 
                        (16 ** 4) * ord(frmsize[-3]))
            tpe1found = True
            txt = ftmp.read(frmlen)
            artist = txt
          elif frmname in id3v24frames or frmname in id3v23frames or \
          frmname in id3v22frames:
            if ord(buf[-1]) != 2:
              frmlen = (ord(frmsize[-1]) + (16 ** 2) * ord(frmsize[-2]) + 
                        (16 ** 4) * ord(frmsize[-3]) + 
                        (16 ** 8) * ord(frmsize[-4]))
            else:
              frmlen = (ord(frmsize[-1]) + (16 ** 2) * ord(frmsize[-2]) + 
                        (16 ** 4) * ord(frmsize[-3]))
            txt = ftmp.read(frmlen)
   #        print '%s\n%s\n%s' % (frmname,frmlen,txt)
        if tpe1found: bcomplete = True
  finally:
    ftmp.close()
  if bcomplete: return({'artist':artist,'title':title,'album':album})
  return({'error':'No ID3v2 info found'})

def betterread(fhandle,nbytes):
  '''
  Returns by nbytes of data from the handle. Checks for (IO,Windows)Errors and
  returns the error object if it encounters one
  '''
  try:
    return fhandle.read(nbytes)
  except (IOError,WindowsError),err:
    return err

def finddup(source,isverbose):
  return

if __name__ == "__main__":
  try:
    main()
  except KeyboardInterrupt,err:
    print 'Program aborted by user'

---End of Code---

What makes a Gandhi the Gandhiji?

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:05:00 +0000

If Gandhi was a great person, so was Hitler. If Mother Teresa was a great person, so was Ghazni. If Alexander was a great man, so was Asoka.

History has in it many great people who lived ages ago but are stilled remembered. So what is it that makes us keep those people in our minds when we cannot remember the names of our high school teachers?

It is not the good or bad one does that makes him great, in fact achievements have nothing to do with a persons greatness. Take for example your own self. If you were the topper in your school, after you've gone, came another topper. So your achievements are very temporary. Once a record is created, it is bound to be broken, its only a matter of time.

So if what we do does not make us great, then what does?

The most important thing that makes us great is the way we do things and how we carry ourselves. If we examine some of the names mentioned above, we can find some very common traits:

1. all of them had great self-control.
2. all of them were very clear with what they wanted.
3. all of them had great amounts of knowledge.
4. all of them had the vision, the faith and the dedication.
5. the most important point of all - they could control, influence the other person's mind very convincingly and they understood the emotions of other people very easily.

The last point is very interesting. All of them knew one thing exactly the same, that their minds and souls are their greatest weapons and tools.

Now that leads us to one question, don't we have minds?

Of course we do, but instead of us controlling them, they control us. It is not like we have a mind, but the mind has us. We have become slaves of our minds. They did not. Their minds did just what they wanted them to do.

So how do we control and take care of our mental health, our mind?

Well just the way we take care of our body and health- by proper exercise. By practicing meditation, one can easily calm his mind and focus it in one direction.

I'm not asking us to do good all the time, as I haven't yet done it myself, but I would be mighty happy if we help ourselves by meditating for just 5-15 minutes a day and that would make me glad and proud that all this was worth something, that even I am able to influence people's minds.(hehe)

If you really want a change from within, I'd highly recommend some works of Swami Vivekananda which can be found here and a famous book 'Emotional Intelligence' by Daniel Goleman.

A leaf from my dairy.

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 05:52:00 +0000

I wanted to share something which I penned down long time ago, a leaf from my old diary:

It's 3AM in the night or should I say early morning. Its time for me to come back into the real world. Its time for me to wake up. Its time for me to go to bed.I come back, hesitantly, from a place I could not find, to a world that I cannot get rid of.

I begin my struggle, again, against something I probably will never understand. I am afresh once again, only to fade into the wall that one more time. Each time I transit between the real and the surreal, I feel more confident, more equipped, more at peace. I look outside, smell the fresh air of yet another stale morning, absorbed by the questions that have been driving me into the world of the unknown. I see distorted images of this world - corrupt people mercilessly snatching away the very essence of life from the helpless- their happiness. I wish I had some power, some trick up my sleeve, to be able to correct this image. We are killing this world, in many ways, and without mercy.

All we need to do- be human. Help each other. Bring down the divide. Be at peace with your own self. Practice meditation. If only we all could stand up for what is just, for what rightfully belongs to this planet we call earth - the beauty of life.

I was going through my old website to move my articles in here and I thought I'll add one of them to this post...

The story tells us how most of us have become- materialistic.

This is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco.

"Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home with me."

"Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him."

"There's something you should know the son continued, "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us."

"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."

"No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us."

"Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own."

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn't know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don't like people who cause us inconvenience or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren't as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there's someone who won't treat us that way. Someone who has for us an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are. And that someone could be you.

Just think about it..

Solving jumbled word puzzles using python... Part I

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:58:00 +0000

Did you ever feel like solving that jumbled-word puzzle right away? You come so close to rearranging those letters but just can't? Don't wait for the answer...let your computer do the work and give you the right word....

I was trying to learn python and accidentally, stumbled across this puzzle section in one of the local dailies while having my coffee....and I was stuck in finding out the right word for one of the jumbled ones....I just couldn't wait so I wrote a small program for myself which will download a dictionary and find out the right word!

Here's the code.....
NOTE: This is just part I (read: not much error handling etc,not completely efficient, etc......)

-----------------Start of Code----------------------


'''
A small program which takes in a jumbled word, and tries to descramble it
by looking up the combinations in an offline dictionary. You can pass your own
dictionary file if you have one or it will download one from 
'http://www.freelang.net/download/misc/english_words.zip'
'''
import os
from urllib import urlretrieve
import zipfile
from sys import exit
def descramble(jumble=None,dictfile='english_words.txt'):
  ''' looks up the possible combinations using its own algorithm against the 
  ones in an offline dictionary. Returns the correctly spelt word if found or
  returns the jumbled word back. You can pass your own dictionary file if you 
  wish to
  '''
  dicturl = 'http://www.freelang.net/download/misc/english_words.zip'
  if not os.path.exists(dictfile) or not os.path.isfile(dictfile):
    print('unable to find dictionary file, trying to download one from: %s'
          %(dicturl))
    try:
      urlretrieve(dicturl,'english_words.zip')
    except IOError,err:
      print('Oops, Unable to download %s\nERROR:%s\nPlease your connection to'
      ' internet and manually verify the URL by opening it in a web browser'
       % (dicturl,err))
      exit(1)
    try:
      newzip = zipfile.ZipFile('english_words.zip','r')
    except BadZipfile,err:
      print 'Error unzipping the downloaded file: %s' % (err)
      exit(1)    
    print 'extracting file \'english_words.txt\' from the downloaded archive'
    for archivename in newzip.namelist():
      open('english_words.txt','w').write(newzip.read(archivename))
  else: print 'Dictionary found..descrambling'    

  wordlist = open(dictfile, 'rb').readlines()
  if jumble == None:
    jumble = raw_input('Enter the jumbled word:')
  jumbledword = jumble.strip().lower()
  no_of_possibilities = 1
  
  for x in range(len(jumbledword)):
    no_of_possibilities *= x + 1
     
  print 'there are %d possible combinations....' % (no_of_possibilities)
  for word in wordlist:
    if len(jumbledword) == len(word.strip()):
      tmp1 = []
      tmp2 = []
      tmp1 = list(word.lower().strip())
      tmp2 = list(jumbledword)
      tmp1.sort()
      tmp2.sort() 
      if tmp1 == tmp2:
        return word
  return jumble    
        

if __name__ == '__main__':
  word = raw_input('Enter the jumbled word:')
  retval = descramble(word,'english_words.txt')
  if retval != word:
    print 'Descrambler 1.0,','Your jumbled word descrambled is %s' % (retval)
  else: print 'Unable to descramble your word %s :-(' % (retval)

-----------------End of Code------------------------

Now that we're able to get what we want, we'll work on making it get for us much more efficiently!

The kiss of life......

noreply@blogger.com (cipherskull) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 16:45:00 +0000

I've been struggling to find something in my life (ever since sliced bread)- something that would take this pain away from the inside; the pain of not knowing why I am here, something that made sense of my being, something that's so true it would make my heart bleed with joy....

This undying feeling I have within makes me look like I crib for everything and complain about my life even when I have everything I could possibly need ever. They say I think too much, they say I worry for almost everything, they say I don't have my priorities right. May be they are right, may be they are not.

I started to think about my thoughts and my 'struggle'. When I would solve some technical issues at my work place, people appreciate me for skill of analyzing problems and finding out solutions and that I go with rock solid fundamentals. But when I do something similar to find my answers about life and its purpose, I end up struggling and getting depressed after failing miserably. As usual, I was fighting for answers this noon when I accidentally stumbled upon a remarkable thought, a reason for my failure all this while- I tried to use logic to solve this problem. That was a BIG mistake in my approach. You cannot use reasons or use logic when it comes to life (and girls). They simply don't go by logic. No. Never. Ever.

There are so many things about life which we simply cannot 'reason'. Life is not Math. Yet life and math are so similar fundamentally- they both work on hypotheses. Without assumptions, both cannot be explained.

Life is a lesson. You learn it when you're through.

c’est la vie!